Human rights key component of Annan global counter-terror plan

[JURIST] [JURIST Europe] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented [speech text] his recommendations [UN press release] for a global counter-terrorism strategy to the UN General Assembly Tuesday, emphasizing the need to respect human rights in all aspects of anti-terrorism policy and practice. The defense of human rights constituted the fifth part of what he called the fundamental components of a global strategy, which also included:

dissuading people from resorting to terrorism or supporting it;

denying terrorists the means to carry out an attack;

deterring States from supporting terrorism; and

developing State capacity to defeat terrorism

Annan's strategy is encapsulated in a 32-page report [text] calling on states to "ratify and implement the core international human rights instruments and accept the competence of international and national human rights monitoring bodies." Annan insisted that by defending human rights, the global community can deprive terrorists of a critical victory. He also called upon member states to agree on the draft of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism [text], long held up by disagreements over a core definition of terrorism, insisting that those disagreements should not stand in the way of agreement on other issues.

The UN General Assembly is slated to begin discussions on Annan's recommendations May 11. VOA has more.

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